Cdn scientist details 963 days of torture

[struggle4progress]

Victims says 'Muppets' from embassy did nothing to help him in Saudi Arabian jail

Paul Gessell
CanWest News Service

Sunday, October 30, 2005

OTTAWA -- The brutality started moments after Canadian biochemist William Sampson was arrested outside his home in Saudi Arabia on Dec. 17, 2000, and driven to a police station in Riyadh. <snip>

This, according to the book, was only the beginning of Sampson's nightmare. Life was to become much worse. And much more painful. Eventually, in a vain attempt to stop the torture, Sampson begged to confess to his supposed crime -- participation in bombing attacks on other Westerners in Saudi Arabia. The confession was fine-tuned several times and yet, Sampson says, it was still filled with contradictions and lunacy. But the Saudis accepted it, along with his forced confession of being a British spy. <snip>

Sampson is a dual Canadian-British citizen. In Saudi Arabia, he was considered a Canadian and representatives of the Canadian embassy paid him visits.

The Saudi torturers were always in the room, however, and discussions were never frank. Besides, Sampson claims, Canadian diplomats believed he was guilty of the bombings, which were supposedly linked to the illegal traffic of alcohol. He also claims the diplomats seemed uninterested in his treatment by his torturers. <snip>

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